'There was blood all over the carpet'; Residents in North Battleford high-rise fear for their safety

NORTH BATTLEFORD -- Residents living in a North Battleford high-rise say their pleas for help aren’t being heard.

"It’s not a safe building to live in,” said 67-year-old Valleyview Towers resident Les Turner. He said life inside the complex, which is home to many seniors, has gone downhill in the past year.

“There’s a lot of old people, elderly women who have to step over people passed out in the hallway just to get to their rooms,” he told CTV news.

Turner blames alcohol use for the changes he’s seen in the building.

Natalie Berrecloth, 80, another Valleyview Towers resident, said she recently found a man with a slashed forehead, bleeding on the carpet just outside her door.

“I called the RCMP and let them into the building. There was blood all over the carpet,” she said.

Berrecloth said the building’s tenor changed when the Battlefords Housing Authority began allowing people in their 30s and 40s to move in to what was once a home for older adults.

Les Turner said residents complain to the housing authority office and that the officer there directs them to the RCMP.

"But the RCMP can’t come here every five minutes,” Turner said.

The province’s Ministry of Social Services said in a statement to CTV News that the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation has been working with the housing authority and the tenants of Valleyview Towers to investigate their concerns and develop a plan to address them.

The ministry also said a security guard is now staffed on-site overnight and over weekends and a tenant relations specialist is working with residents to resolve conflicts and ensure tenants are abiding by their lease agreements.